Qur’an Ban: Two Years Today

Phil Groom writes:

Today, December 3rd 2008, marks exactly two years since news broke of the Brewers’ decision to ban the Qur’an from the SPCK Bookshops (remember that at that point they were still officially trading under the SPCK name).

“Stocking books which are inimical to Christianity, which without question the Koran is, could well create the wrong impression among some that we endorse the belief systems of other religions as equal or viable alternatives,” said Mark Brewer, the Texan lawyer who chairs the trust.

Source: Church bookshops stop selling Koran: Christopher Morgan, Times Online, 03/12/2006

Personally, I regard the rot within our faith — including people like the Brewers — as far more inimical to Christianity than the Qur’an. Natalie Jones again:

The Brewers [are] destroying an important part of [Durham] Cathedral as surely as a suicide bomber might – they are just taking a longer way about doing it, like some kind of infectious mold destroying an old, beautiful piece of stone. Fundamentalism is fundamentalism, not matter what denomination of belief it belongs to.

For those who want a more enlightened and intelligent approach to Christian-Muslim relations than the Brewers appear to be capable of, I have no hesitation in recommending Riddell and Cotterell, Islam in Conflict: Past, Present and Future. 

Here’s a reminder of the some of the news and blog reactions that followed the Brewers’ announcement: 

• UK: Church Bookshops Delete Koran From Shelves: Western Resistance, 03/12/2006
• Church bookshops ban Qur’an: Cranmer, 03/12/2008
• Britain’s Oldest Christian Bookshops Remove Koran from Shelves: Christian Today, 04/12/2006
• Koran banned: MediaWatchWatch, 04/12/2006
• UK: Church bookshops remove Koran from shelves: Spero News, 05/12/2006
• Orthodox Organisation Takes Control of British Christian Bookshop Chain: Richard Bartholomew, 06/12/2006
• Bookshop can supply faiths texts: Worcester News, 06/12/2006